Imagine $30 million a year going into a litter prevention campaign in Ontario. Pie in the sky? Not if Canada’s beverage industry has anything to say about it. And it turns out industry has quite a lot to say, committing to seize more of its product packaging out of the hands of litterbugs and the jaws of landfill sites. The Canadian Beverage Container Recycling Association (CBCRA) is out to reclaim its used drink cans, bottles and boxes and is ready to put up to 30 million bucks annually into promoting avid recycling away from home. The people of Ontario are being challenged to accept that they need to do a much better job of placing beverage containers in bins where they can be recaptured, resold and reused. It’s the perfect circle. The only knot in the flow is the human reluctance to consider alternatives to littering when faced with the inconvenience of having to hold on to an empty container for more than a few moments. So the beverage industry wants to pay to put bins everywhere and build a whole new wave of green businesses in the process. It might cost a penny or so more at the register for your beverage of choice. In Manitoba the container recycling fee (CRF) is two cents. Promotion and education figure prominently in the plan being advanced by CBCRA at Waste Diversion Ontario, the agency responsible for approving industry plans for waste management stewardship and sustainability. If you missed the first WDO webinar from CBCRA, it will be repeated on Nov 7 from 1:30 to 3:30. www.vvctv.ca/wdo/20131107/ Password: wdo1 Well worth it to tune in for a good two-way exchange on a plan that will send your beverage containers into the recycling stream instead of having them languish on the ground, beach or road looking ugly. CBCRA has stepped forward with a bold vision for diverting 75 per cent of its containers from landfill five years in. Let your imagination fly once again to the possibility of three-quarter fewer beverage bottles being lifted from litter’s potentially endless stream. Generally, people commenting via the Oct 28 webinar, www.vvctv.ca/wdo/20131028/ had questions about holding industry to its promise, accountability, the calculation and management of the CRF, contamination (i.e. human error), impact on municipalities and the residential blue box program, and, of course, I raised litter. On all these categories – plus, plus, plus marks for industry. The hints of criticism I heard from webinar comment quarters yesterday were muted to say the least. CBCRA has the right idea and has my unqualified support. Does it have yours? Manitoba’s already doing it. Help bring Recycle Everywhere to Ontario. Contact wdostakeholdercommunications@wdo.ca to voice support. Or phone Mary Cummins at at marycummins@wdo.ca, or 416-226-5113, ext. 232